Imagine a future where machines are so sustainable that they creep and grow like plants–and where the world becomes overgrown with sustainable machines. That’s what British architecture student Richard Hardy tried to depict in this ravishing short animation, The Transcendent City.

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The video basically tells the story of an “autonomous artificial machine” that creeps across the earth, adapting to whatever resources it finds locally and the eco-systems it finds. Hardy hypothesizes that the machine could work using “nano technologies controlled by molecular computers that monitor and analyze the environment,” which would be totally awesome. Think of it like a machine analog of Gaia, dude.

Or, at the very least, a short film far more beautiful than 90% of Hollywood special-effects orgies. Skip the The Last Airbender. Save your $10. See this instead.